WoodFinishing

Wood Finishing Preparation Using Stains

To achieve a perfect finish, apply then rub down successive coats. Remenber that finish on wood will enhance any defects as well as good points.

The timber must be dry, regadless of the treatment applied.

Sand down your project with successive grades of sandpaper, depending on how rough the timber is. For example rough sawn timber will need planning first, followed by 80 grit, 100, grit,150 grit and finally 400 grit sandpapers. The overall finish will depend on how fine you go with your sanding, the finner the sanding the better your finish will be.

Sand along the grain, wipe down with a damp rag to raise the grain and allow to dry before re sanding and finish with 400 grit sandpaper.

The wood may need filling. This can be as simple as rubbing in grain filler. To fill larger cracks an knots, use a wood filler that matches the timber color you are using. Most woodworking stores will have pre mixed woodfinishing fillers in many colors.

Take care in choosing woodstains of the shelf. The color is often labelled according to wood species such as oak, cedar or pine. This can be misleading as the result depends on the base color of the wood on which it is to be applied.

Test on a peice of scrap and allow to dry before proceeding.

If you have problems once you have a stain and its not quite what you wanted, you can mix two stains to get the result closer to the woodfinishing color that you want. Remember also that the more coats you apply the deeper the color will get.